SynopsisRose asks Martin for help: Peter is about to be recruited, and his uncle refuses to pay the 2,000 Francs needed to release him. Peter is uneasy with the idea of drawing Martin into it, for he believes the violinist to be a magician. Martin inherited the 'magic violin' from his father, combined with the mysterious instruction to break it to pieces in an emergency, which Martin, despite several occasions, has refrained from doing. When Peter smashes the instrument in a quarrel with Rose, it indeed reveals its mystery: a letter, informing Martin that he is the legal inheritor of the old owner of the castle. Thus Rose's and Peter's future has been provided for.